A Simple Blood Test Is as Effective as a Biopsy in Detecting Lung Cancer Mutations

Biopsies are a necessary burden for people with cancer. Taking a small sample of tissue and sending it through genetic and molecular analysis can help doctors not just diagnose cancer, but also learn more about its inner workings to find the best treatments based on which mutations are feeding the disease.

But tissue biopsies are invasive, and depending on where the tumors are in the body, they can be painful to obtain.

Biopsies are a necessary burden for people with cancer. Taking a small sample of tissue and sending it through genetic and molecular analysis can help doctors not just diagnose cancer, but also learn more about its inner workings to find the best treatments based on which mutations are feeding the disease. But tissue biopsies are invasive, and depending on where the tumors are in the body, they can be painful to obtain.